Apple Orange Spice Drops

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 egg

Zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups chopped dried apple

¾ cup toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Glaze

1 tablespoon orange juice

2/3 cup powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with kitchen parchment.

In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, brown sugar, almond extract, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, cloves, allspice and nutmeg until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Stir in the orange zest and orange juice, then the flour. Stir in the apples and the almonds, if using.

Working in batches, scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between cookies. Bake 10 minutes, or until just pale golden brown on the bottoms. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a rack to cool completely. Allow the baking sheet to cool slightly between batches.

To make the glaze, whisk together the orange juice and powdered sugar. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over each cookie. Once the glaze sets, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Makes 4 dozen.

Nutrition values per cookie: 70 calories, 2 g fat (1.5 g saturated), 12 g carbohydrate, 0 fiber, 7 g sugar, 1 g protein, 10 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium.

The Associated Press